Optimisation for Google

Google Optimisation, SEO for Google Positions

by John Hughes
of http://www.oyster-web.co.uk

Last updated: 17 Sep 2007

There are hundreds of search engines that are used around the World, and certainly more than ten in the UK that are important enough to bring measurable Traffic to web sites. Why is it, then, that most people that phone us up ask about Google optimisation instead of SEO?

First of all, one has to ask oneself, which Search Engine do I use? For most people, the answer is usually Google. Google has over three quarters of the market share for search in the UK. In other words – three times more than all the other search engines combined.

So argument number one, from a webmaster's point of view, is that Google is where the traffic is. Success in marketing is about location, location, location, as we so often hear. In this instance – Google is the location.

Google as a Synonym

But there is another, perhaps more subtle, effect taking place. In 1908, James Murray Spangler invented an electric vacuum cleaner from a fan, a box and a pillowcase. He added a rotating brush, and patented the resulting design. He eventually sold the idea to his cousin's husband's company, the Hoover Harness and Leather Goods Factory. Hoover, became one of the pioneering manufacturers of vacuum cleaners in the World.

These days, Dyson, Electrolux, LG, Panasonic and several other companies all have significant shares in the UK market (in fact Dyson has over one third of the market). However, still in the UK, we refer to this part of the housework as "doing the hoovering."

Therefore, perhaps the answer is that Google is becoming synonymous with search engines, and therefore Google optimisation is also becoming synonymous with search engine optimisation.

The difficulty for us as Search Engine Optimisation consultants (or should we call ourselves Google consultants?) is that if someone wants Google optimisation, how much do they really mean Google, and how much do they mean search engine?

How does Google Optimisation Affect SEO?

If a company offered you marketing for your website, and the chance of success was 90%, but across only 75% of the market, is that really better than 85% chance of success across 100% of the market.

The mathematicians among you will agree that that is clearly not the case. That is why, in the face of calls for Google marketing, we will continue to understand those words to mean search engine marketing.